A pulsed neutron source with a sealed dense plasma focus chamber

Abstract Compared with other pulsed neutron sources, dense plasma focus (DPF) devices have the advantages of simple in construction, extremely compact and cost-effective. In this paper, a DPF device was developed for used as pulsed neutron source. The Mather-type sealed chamber was adopted for long duration and multishot operations without vacuum system, which is convenient for transport, use and storage. The maximum D-D neutron yield of the device is approximately 1.1 × 10 9 n/pulse when the storage capacitors are charged with 22 kV and the deuterium gas filling pressure is 750 Pa. The neutron pulse width (FWHM) was measured to be 45 ns ± 10 ns.